Construction of seats



July 17, 1951 J. E. MARSHALL CONSTRUCTION OF SEATS I .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 29, 1947 Patented July 17', 19-51 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application July 29, 1947, Serial No. 764,511 In Great Britain June 28, 1946 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires June 28, 1966 2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of seats and refers particularly to the construction of upholstered chairs and settees. The object of the invention is to provide a construction in which the base, arm rests and back form. separable units, which can be packed into the minimum amount of space for transport.

According to this invention a chair or sette-e comprises a base having a support for a cushion or the like thereon, arm rests detachably con nected to the base and a seat back detachably connected to the arm rests and adapted to hold them in position. The base, arm rests and seat back are preferably of tubular construction and may be upholstered in any suitable manner.

The base preferably comprises a substantially rectangular frame supported by two U-shaped members, the upper ends of the latter being detachably connected to the arm rests.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation,

Fig. 2 a side elevation and Fig. 3 a plan of the frame of a chair constructed according to this invention.

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation on the line X-X of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the framing for the base and arm rests, the latter being shown detached, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the complete chair after the base, arm rests and seat back have been upholstered.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary view, drawn to a larger scale, showing one method of connecting the rear of the arm rests to the base.

Like numerals indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

In carrying out this invention the base is formed by a frame I which is made substantially rectangular in plan and is supported by two U- shaped members 2, 3, which rest on the floor. These two U-shaped members 2, 3, are arranged parallel to each other and have their respective vertical arms or sides secured to the front and back sides of the frame I as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The arms of the U-shaped members attached to the front side of the frame I extended upwards a convenient distance above the top of the frame and form spigots or upward extensions 4, 5, whilst the arms attached to the rear side of the frame I, in the construction shown in Figs. 5 and 7 finish level with the top of the frame I. The U- shaped members 2, 3, are preferably made from metal tubing and the frame E is also built up of metal tubing and the base also incorporates metal sections to which upholstery can be secured as hereinafter described.

Two arm rests 6, I, are mounted on the frame I, one at each end. The arm rests 6, I, may be of any suitable shape and comprise a framing adapted to rest on the top of the frame l. The arms rests 6, l, are provided with sockets on the underside at thefront to fit over the upward extensions 4, 5, of the vertical front arms of the U-shaped members 2, 3, previously described and caps or skirts 8, S), on the underside of the arm rests 6, i, at the rear, to fit over the upper ends of the rear arms of the U-shaped members as shown in Figs. 5 and 7. The framing forming the arm rests 6, I, is preferably built up from metal tubing as shown in the drawings and may have the appropriate parts 8a, Ia, formed from tubing of the correct diameter to form the sockets which engage with the upward extensions 4, 5, on the front arms of the U-shaped members 2, 3.

The skirts 8, 9, which engage with the upper ends of the vertical rear arms of the U-shaped members 2, 3, are made the correct radius to fit round the arms and are welded to the arm rest frames or secured thereto in any other convenient manner. In order to connect the skirts 8, 9, to the rear arms of the U-shaped members 2, 3, the arms have pins Iii, II, secured thereto, See Fig. 5, which pass through holes provided for the purpose in the skirts 8, 9.

The seat back is similarly comprised of a built up framing and is arranged so as to be connected on each side by means of a spigot and socket connection with the respective arm rests 6, 1, to hold the seat back in position and hold the arm rests rigid.

For this purpose the seat back may be comprised of two oppositely disposed U-shaped tubular members I2, I3, secured together and the ends I211, I211, of the upper U-shaped member I2 may. form sockets which engage with upwardly extending spigots I4, l5, provided for the purpose on the arm rests 6, I, and clearly shown in Fig. 7.

The spigots 4, 5, I 4 and I5 may be formed by rods of the appropriate diameter secured in any convenient manner to the tubular members with which they are associated or the tubular memv bers may be made the necessary length and the spigots formed by reducing the diameter of the tube in any convenient manner.

In an alternative construction, the rear of the arm rests may be connected to the base by providing a spigot 5a on the upper ends of the upright rear arms of the U-shaped members 2, 3, and providing sockets on the rear of the arm rests to engage with the spigots as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The base is provided with a seat supporting surface between the arm rests 6, 1, and, thi s,may.,,

conveniently beformed by means of a series-of:

surface of the base, the resulting chair being It will be understood that I illustrated in Fig. 6. with the tubular construction describedthe upholstery cannot be secured to the framework of the chair by tacks unless special provision is made to permit of this being done. The upholstery can be secured to the respective parts of the; chair frame by sewing or the respective parts can be provided with a special tackingstrip into which tacks. can be driven to hold the upholstery, inposition. As shown in the drawings the lower, edges of the arm rests 6, l are comprised of a tacking strip 18. This tacking strip consists of lengths of metal channel shaped section, formed therein being filled with a suitable .composition into which tacks can be driven. In order-that the base can be suitably covered to match the remainder of the chair a tacking strip 19 is provided thereon at a suitable-distance from the ground. The tacking strip may be welded-to the tubular members of the chair frame or rivetthe channel upper ends of ally beyond said U-shaped members to provide arm rest supports, arm rests including spaced side members supported on the projecting portions of the rectangular frame and have their undersides detachably connected to the upper ends of the armsofthe respective U-, haped membersa seat back-*detachably connected to the arm rests and adapted to hold them in position on the base and means extending across the rectangular frame between the arm rests to support a cushion or the=.like.

2. Anwupholstered chair or settee comprising a base formed by a substantially rectangular metal frame supported, bytwo U-shaped tubular metal 'members extending across from front to back of the frame landsecured thereto, said frame projecting. laterally beyond said U-shaped members to provide arm rest supports, arm rests including spaced side members formed by metal box like frames supported on the projecting portions of the rectangular frame and have sockets at the front to receive a spigot on the upper ends of the front arms of the U-shaped members and caps or skirts at the rear to engage with the -with spigots-on the arm rests to hold the latter ed to lugs secured to the tubular members at thev appropriate points.

also. lends itself very readily to the unit construction of upholstered furniture.

The construction-described Forpurpose of transport the seat isdismantled,

the base turned upside down and the arm rests andrseat cushion placed inside the base framing. The seat back is then placed on the top of these to form a very compact assembly.

A seat constructed as described is strong and rigid when assembled whilst a divan chain or a settee is appreciably less in weight than those constructed by-the methods hitherto 'used.

What I claim as my invention 1. An upholstered chair or settee comprising a base formed by a substantially-rectangularimetal frame supported by two U-shaped metal members extending from front to back of theframe:

and secured thereto, said frame projecting laterin position on the rectangular frame and a plurality of helical tension springs which extend,

across from; front to rear of the rectangular frame,-.be tween the armrests, to support a cush- -ion orthe like,

JOHN E, --L, MARSHALL,

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 172,136 Mabett Jan. 11, 1876 998,318 Young July 18, 1911 1,556,550 Krahl Jan. 12, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS Number, Country Date 29,067 Great Britain 1911 591,013 Germany Jan. 15, 1934 72,920 Austria Dec. 27, 1916 495,814 Great. Britain Nov. 21, 1938 460,946 Germany Nov. 2, 1926 the rear arms of the U-shaped members, holes in the caps or skirts to receive laterally projecting pins in the upper ends of the 

